I can leave my desk right now ,drive twenty miles to the gun shop or Walmart, pick out a new rifle , get background checked etc. and be home with it and ammo for it in about an hour or hour and a half. Your UK farmer probably can't get one in under a month.

With the result that gun crime and the number of people killed by nutters with guns is a fraction if what it is in the US. Most farmers that I know are quite happy with that situation.

If you have a very urgent situation that requires something shooting a quick phone call will get someone who can around in very short time._________________"When the last tree is cut down, and the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish has been caught, Only then will you find out that you cannot eat money". --The Cree Indians

With the result that gun crime and the number of people killed by nutters with guns is a fraction if what it is in the US. Most farmers that I know are quite happy with that situation.

If you have a very urgent situation that requires something shooting a quick phone call will get someone who can around in very short time.

While ambulance and fire trucks can reach my home in ten to fifteen minutes depending on travel conditions the police force that answers 911 calls is a good half hour away. That is not a short time if you are the one being assaulted.
I realize most UK citizens are quite content with your gun laws and don't expect to ever change any opinion on the subject.
On the other hand I was raised to be proud of my ability to defend myself and my community when needed and would be embarrassed in the extreme if I had to cower in a corner and wait for the cops to come bail me out.
Agree to disagree as it were.

there are many ways how to minimize these negative human-wildlife encounters by respecting natural needs of both worlds.

Yes.

kenneal - lagger wrote:

Livestock farming is marginal in most places in the UK at the moment and it is only the subsidies which keep most livestock farmers going.

CAP reform to encourage organic tillage and compensate any livestock farmers who wind up their business. Re-introduce wildlife. Partial utopia. _________________"Buddhists say we come back as animals and they refer to them as lesser beings. Well, animals aren’t lesser beings, they’re just like us. So I say fụck the Buddhists" - Bjork